Former Formula 1 chairman Bernie Ecclestone has taken to Instagram to categorically deny reports that he has advised Red Bull team principal Cristian Horner to leave his role with the world championship-winning squad.
Horner is currently under an internal team review into his conduct as boss of the F1 squad. The precise nature of these complaints, understood to have been made by an employee, have not been made public but have been denied by Horner.
The news was made public last week. Horner subsequently attended a ten-hour meeting on Friday to talk through the allegations with an external specialist barrister appointed by executives from the parent Red Bull energy drinks business.
There was no decision made at the end of the meeting, and Horner himself has suggested that it will be weeks before there is any firm news. In the meantime he will get on with his job preparing for the start of the new season.
“The investigation will be completed as soon as practically possible. It would not be appropriate to comment further at this time," Red Bull said in a press release last week.
Russian F1 commentator Alexey Popov suggested that it was a matter of how Horner has spoken to a female employee, and that there was no suggestion of harassment or indecent photographs being involved as some media sources had suggested.
Formula 1 CEO Stefano Domenicali has reportedly been in touch with the parent Red Bull company over the claims, indicating the level of concern that they could have on the sport as a whole.
In the meantime, some reports in German media stated that Ecclestone had advised Horner to stand down as Red Bull principal after learning further details of the allegations. The 93-year-old has vehemently denied any such suggestions.
“To clarify reports by newspapers that I had urged or suggested that Christian Horner should step down from his position in Red Bull is entirely UNTRUE,” Ecclestone said in a social media post subsequently shared by his wife Fabiana, the FIA Vice-President for Sport.
"We have been good friends for a long time," German news agency DPA quoted Ecclestone as saying this week. "He has now been accused but unless proven otherwise, he is innocent."
"Apart from keeping his head down, my advice to Christian is to do nothing and wait and see what happens," he added in separate remarks to French press agency AFP.
"I am in close contact with him. The problem is that when you succeed, you make a lot of enemies. What I hope is that someone will talk to him and the woman individually and everything will be worked out."
Horner was Eccleston's best at his third wedding in 2012, and has remained good friends ever since.
Ecclestone suggested that the death of team founder Dietrich Mateschitz in 2022 had created a power vacuum at Red Bull, and that some within the company saw the allegations as a way of ousting Horner.
"They want to overthrow him. He has achieved enormous success and has made incredible efforts not only for the team, but also for the sport," Ecclestone mused.
Horner was present for the shakedown of the new Red Bull RB20 at a filming day held at Silverstone on Tuesday.
A Red Bull press release said that Horner would feature in a live-streamed launch event from Red Bull's Technology Centre at Milton Keynes on Thursday evening along with Max Verstappen, Sergio Perez and F1 Academy drivers Emely de Heus and Hamda Al Qubaisi.
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